


i'll swim halfway if you swim halfway

by tinydragon (tiny_dragon)



Series: every moon and blinking sun [9]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-21
Packaged: 2018-12-18 05:26:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11867682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tiny_dragon/pseuds/tinydragon
Summary: in which will wants to go swimming and nico is regrettably flustered over cute shirtless boys





	i'll swim halfway if you swim halfway

**Author's Note:**

> hello! this was requested by trash-penguins3300 on tumblr a lil while ago. hope you enjoy :)

Nico agrees to go swimming with Will for a variety of reasons.

Because it’ll give him some more options next time he inevitably has to run for his life from a monster. Because Percy has been pestering him about it for the past year and a half. Definitely not because Leo recently discovered The Internet and now won’t stop yelling ‘what’s up I’m Jared I’m 19 and I never fuckin’ learned how to swim’, ever since Nico mentioned that can’t.

Correction: he can. He just hasn’t in… oh, seventy odd years.

“It’s like riding a bike,” Will beamed. “It’s not a skill you forget!”

Nico had raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know how to ride a bike, either.”

“Oh, come on. What excuse do you have for that one? It’s not like they weren’t around - bicycles were invented in the 1800s, so even you don’t have an excuse.”

“Thanks, Will.”

Another big smile.

“But we’re getting off topic,” this tall, stupid, freckled boy continues airily, as if any of this actually matters.

Nico is a goddamn war hero. He’s killed monsters. If Hades were to die (unlikely, given his current occupation) Nico could theoretically inherit the underworld.

Nico is, also, apparently, weak for blonde haired boys who kiss him a lot.

Well, everyone has their weaknesses.

“We’ll discuss learning to bike ride another day. Our current mission is swimming.”

And that, more or less, is how he has ended up here, by the lake, and even though the sunlight is shimmering down over camp Nico makes sure to keep visibly shivering for good measure.

Leo, sunbathing a few feet away, acknowledges him by raising his sunglasses and then letting them fall down against his face. Nico doesn’t bother to ask.

“Sup, di Angelo?” comes from a voice behind him, and Nico turns around quickly only to feel as if all the air has been knocked from his lungs.

Will is shirtless. Maybe that goes without saying, but Nico isn’t. Nico is wearing an age old t-shirt he found under his bed over his swimming trunks, which is probably why Leo had been so unimpressed by his shivering facade. Hell, he isn’t even sure if the shirt belongs to him. It’s probably Jason’s.

“Not entirely correct swimming attire,” Will says, looking him up and down. “But it’ll more than do.”

“Um,” Nico says. “Thanks.”

Here is the thing: Will is pretty to look at, and Nico could look at him all day. That’s… probably fairly obvious to anyone who has been in their presence for more than like, an hour since they finally started dating. Will is the kind of pretty that makes girls swoon and guys like, pump up their muscles, if you’re going to conform to gender stereotypes. Which Nico isn’t sure there is much point in because honestly, he’s inclined to do both depending on which mode of pretty Will is on that particular occasion.

Like, sweater paws Will at Christmas time with a huge ass jumper, or strict healer Will who is about to castrate the Stoll brothers with his demi-godly powers.

Currently, Nico’s only reaction is to gawp. Shirtless Will. Who is just as pretty as every other Will, because blonde hair that curls and falls and musses, and big eyes and a beaming smile and a face covered in hundreds of freckles. But  _shirtless Will_. He’s got a good body and even if he didn’t, Nico would still probably stare because, hey, he loves the guy.

And Will is shirtless. Shirtless! Nico has seen a lot of shirtless guys but usually, it’s on a basis where he isn’t so inclined to kiss them for several minutes or hours or days.

Nico lets out a little squawk.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, um,” Nico nods frantically. “Sorry, shirt… Jason’s?”

“Mine, actually,” Will says smoothly. “Though maybe now is a good time to get it back?”

He’s smirking, and he’s clearly aware of the way Nico’s eyes keep flitting down, resting on his body, the space of tan skin from the glare of the sunlight, the outline of muscle and where his swimming trunks start, and a gentle slip of his stomach spills just over the fabric.

Will is always so warm.

Nico might cry.

“Definitely not,” he says. Clears his throat. “I, um. Will refuse to swim otherwise, on a matter of principle.”

Will grins wickedly, but then he just shrugs.

“Can’t argue with that, I guess,” he muses. “Not sure it’s gonna help you out with swimming, though.”

Nico doesn’t have an answer to that.

It turns out, however, that what  _does_  help him pick up swimming again (and he can remember it, vaguely, finds it gets a little easier bit by bit as his body relearns the routine) is Will moving away, just out of reach. And Nico swims after him, or maybe doggy paddles a little bit, reaching out for his hand or his arm or his elbow. And he pulls Will towards him in the warm water and kisses him like he’s trying to taste the salt water.

“Get a room!” Leo yells indignantly from - well, somewhere.

Will grins. “Nah,” he says, and this time he’s the one who swims forward and captures the warmth of the water on his lips.

**Author's Note:**

> more of my fic can be found on willsolaced at tumblr, where u can also ask me to write things and contemplate the meaning of life


End file.
